Preached by Gregory W. Lee
27 August 2006
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Daniel 9
24. "Seventy `sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.
25. "Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven `sevens,' and sixty-two `sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.
26. After the sixty-two `sevens,' the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing.
-- this morning, we are continuing our series in eschatology -- in the study of end times prophecy -- just to refresh your memory from where we are, Daniel has been reading the Book of Jeremiah and has realized that the 70-year period of exile decreed for the nation of Israel was nearing an end
-- he was concerned over what was going to happen to the nation now that the exile was over and a new world government -- the Medo-Persians -- were on the scene -- would they be allowed to return to Jerusalem? -- would they be kept in captivity?
-- as he is pouring out his heart to God with this question -- confessing his sin and the sin of the nation as a whole -- God sends the angel Gabriel to Daniel with an answer -- and in verses 24-27 in this chapter, Gabriel outlines what will happen to the nation of Israel in the future
-- as you remember, Gabriel told Daniel in verse 24 that 490 years was decreed for the nation of Israel -- your Bible uses the term "seventy sevens" or "seventy weeks" in place of 490 years -- remember that the term "seven" or "weeks" in this context refers to a seven-year period -- so, in other words, Gabriel was telling Daniel that the nation of Israel was only going to exist for a total of 490 years
-- the 490 years would start when a decree was issued to rebuild Jerusalem -- and, as we learned last week, the decree went out from Artaxerxes to Nehemiah in 444 BC to rebuild the city -- not only to complete the temple, but to rebuild the walls, the gates, and the homes
-- Gabriel told Daniel in verse 25 that the rebuilding of Jerusalem would take 49 years -- seven sevens or seven weeks -- this marks the first division of the 490 years decreed for Israel
-- after Jerusalem is rebuilt, Gabriel told Daniel that another 434 years would pass until the Anointed One -- the Messiah -- comes to Jerusalem and is cut-off -- rejected by His people and crucified -- and, if you remember from last week, we talked about how Jesus rode into Jerusalem in 32 AD, exactly 483 years after the decree to rebuild Jerusalem, just as Daniel prophesied in this book
-- now, Gabriel said that 490 years were decreed for the nation of Israel, but only 483 years are accounted for -- 49 years to rebuild Jerusalem and 434 years from the rebuilding of Jerusalem until the death of Jesus on the cross
-- that leaves seven years unaccounted for -- and as we finished up last week, we discussed how there must be a gap in time between the death of Jesus and the start of this last seven-year period -- and we talked about how this seven-year period has not been completed yet because the six events in verse 24 that would be fulfilled before the end of the 490 years have not been fulfilled yet
-- so, this morning, we turn our attention to this last seven-year period -- called the "time of Jacob's Trouble" by the prophet Jeremiah and called the Great Tribulation or the "Time of Great Distress" by Jesus in Matthew 24
II. The Nation of Israel After Jesus' Death and Resurrection
-- look back at verse 26
26. After the sixty-two `sevens,' the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.
27. He will confirm a covenant with many for one `seven.' In the middle of the `seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing [of the temple] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him. "
-- when Jesus -- the Anointed One -- rode into Jerusalem, the nation of Israel rejected Him and were directly responsible for His death -- Gabriel says that He was "cut-off" by His people and had nothing
-- Christ came to establish His kingdom on earth -- His spiritual kingdom by making atonement for our sins through His death and resurrection -- and His earthly kingdom -- the Kingdom of Heaven
-- but, when the nation of Israel rejected Him and He was crucified by Pontius Pilate, His earthly kingdom was not established at that time -- we know that God turned His attention from the Jews to the Gentiles at this time and the church age was ushered in -- outside of the gospels, the entire New Testament deals with the establishment of Christ's church and the growth of the church of Christ amidst persecution from Jews and others
-- but, remember that this prophecy in Daniel 9 deals with the nation of Israel -- so, what happened to the nation of Israel after the death and resurrection of Jesus?
-- verse 26 tells us that after the Anointed One -- Jesus -- is cut off, the people of the ruler to come will destroy the city of Jerusalem and the sanctuary -- the temple
-- at the time of Jesus' death, religious and political power resided in the temple and was wielded by the three major Jewish sects -- the Pharisees -- the Saducees -- and the Zealots -- and even though they had authority among their own people, the Jews were still ruled by the Romans who had come in and taken over Palestine in 63 BC
-- the Zealots, in particular, were not happy at having Jersualem and the Holy Land under the authority of the Romans, and after the death of Jesus -- in 66 AD -- the Zealots inspired a mass revolt and turned against the Romans
-- the Roman emperor could not turn a blind eye to an armed revolt against his rule, so he mobilized his troops and attacked Jerusalem -- in 70 AD, the Romans destroyed the city of Jerusalem and burned the temple
-- from that time until now, the Jewish people have not had a central place of worship -- the temple that was destroyed in 70 AD has never been rebuilt and the Muslim mosque, the Dome of the Rock, sits on the site where most believe the temple used to stand
-- verse 26 continues to say that the time from the cutting off of the Anointed One until the last seven-year period is completed will be a time of trouble and tribulation -- there will be wars -- there will be desolations -- and it is obvious to even the most casual student of history that the nation of Israel has been right in the middle of some of the worst atrocities ever committed -- from the killing of Jews in France and Russia in historic times to the Holocaust in Germany in recent memory
III. The Ruler Who Will Come
-- but, this passage tells us that God is not through with the nation of Israel -- although He has turned His attention on the Gentiles for a time to build His church, He will once again turn His attention onto the nation of Israel as the last seven-year period is ushered in
-- before we talk in detail about this last seven years, let's look for a moment on the person identified in verse 26 as "the ruler who will come" -- this is none other than the infamous Antichrist -- the Beast from the Book of Revelation
-- there's a lot of misunderstanding and misinformation concerning this "ruler who will come" -- what do we actually know about the ruler to come?
-- first, we know that the Antichrist will be a man -- he is clearly identified in the Book of Daniel, in the letters of John, and in the Book of Revelation as a man -- Paul called him the "man of lawlessness, the man doomed to destruction" in 2 Thessalonians 2:3
-- secondly, we know that he will be a political leader -- he is called here the "ruler" who will come -- he will have authority on earth and will eventually become the world leader
-- third, we know that he will be a Gentile and will be descended from the people of Rome -- in verse 26, Gabriel tells Daniel that "the people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary" -- we know that this was referring to the Romans because they destroyed the city in 70 AD -- now, this does not mean that the Antichrist will be Roman or will be from Italy -- but he will be descended from the Roman people -- this could be anyone from an English or European descent, because these are the people who owe their heredity to the Romans
-- fourth, we know that he will set up a false religion that opposes Christ -- the word "antichrist" literally means "in place of" or "against" -- so he will set up a false religion that is offered in place of or against Christianity
-- in the letters of John -- 1 John and 2 John -- John tells us that there is a spirit of the antichrist that is alive and working in the world today -- anyone who opposes Christ -- who denies the deity of Jesus and who teaches that Jesus was not God incarnate -- is living in the spirit of the antichrist
-- and, finally, we know that the Antichrist is going to be influenced and empowered by Satan and that he will have the ability to do miracles and signs and wonders -- in Matthew 24, Jesus said that false Christs and false prophets would appear and perform "great signs and miracles" that are so realistic that they could deceive Christians, if that were possible -- in the Book of Revelation we read of the great miracles of the Beast, including his resurrection from the dead
-- so, this is the ruler to come, and he is important in understanding the timing of the final seven years decreed for the nation of Israel
IV. The Final Seven Years
-- look back at verse 27
27. He will confirm a covenant with many for one `seven.' In the middle of the `seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing [of the temple] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him. "
-- "he" is the ruler who will come -- the Antichrist -- Daniel tells us that this great, charismatic leader is going to establish a covenant -- a peace treaty -- with the nation of Israel for a seven year period
-- the signing of this peace treaty with Israel will be the sign that the final seven-year period is at hand -- now, we don't know if the Antichrist is going to be the leader of a country that is at war with Israel or if he is merely going to be the diplomat that brokers an agreement between Israel and its enemies, but this will be the event that propels him into the attention of the world
-- this peace treaty is going to usher in a time of peace and restoration of the national religion of Judaism -- but, this peace won't last -- Daniel tells us here that in the middle of the seven-year period -- after 3-1/2 years of peace -- the Antichrist is going to break the peace treaty with Israel and do two things that will directly impact the Jewish people
-- first, Daniel tells us that the Antichrist will put an end to sacrifice and offering
-- and, secondly, he will go into the temple and set up an abomination that causes desolation -- most scholars agree that this is the moment in time that the Antichrist sets himself up in the temple as God and demands the worship of the Jewish people
-- now, there's something important to get out of these verses -- at some point in the future of Israel, the nation is going to rebuild the temple and is going to once again offer sacrifices and burnt offerings to God
-- we don't know how or when this is going to happen -- it may happen before the signing of the peace treaty with the Antichrist or it may happen within the first 3-1/2 years after the signing of the peace treaty -- but Daniel tells us here that the temple will be rebuilt -- the people cannot be offering sacrifices and burnt offerings to God without a temple
-- ever since the nation of Israel was founded in 1948, there have been Jews who have longed to rebuild the temple -- Daniel tells us that, eventually, there dream will be fulfilled
-- so, after 3-1/2 years of peace, the Antichrist is going to break the peace treaty, stop worship in the newly built temple, and establish himself as God
-- the next 3-1/2 years will be a time of great tribulation as the 490 years decreed for the nation of Israel come to an end -- and, at the end of this time, the Lord Jesus Christ will return, setting up a millenial kingdom on earth and ushering in the fulfillment of the six events decreed in verse 24 -- finishing the transgression, putting an end to sin, atoning for wickedness, bringing in everlasting righteousness, sealing up vision and prophecy, and anointing the most holy
V. Closing
-- so, what is the take-home message from this passage?
-- first, we have no idea when this last seven-year period will take place -- we know it will start with the Antichrist signs a peace treaty with Israel -- but we have no way of knowing the day, month, or even the year that this event will occur
-- Jesus told us to not be concerned with such things, but to go forth and fulfill the Great Commandment -- to love our neighbor as ourself -- and the Great Commission -- to go and make disciples of all the nations -- while we keep a watchful eye for His second coming
-- if it looks like we are entering the end times -- if it looks like the time is ripe for the Antichrist to sign this peace treaty, then this should cause us to seek to share our faith with all that we can because we know that the time is short
-- secondly, we should not get paranoid or get too worried about the coming of the Antichrist -- God tells us here that the Antichrist will come -- he must come -- so that God's purposes will be fulfilled
-- it is not our place to try to figure out who the Antichrist is -- we need to stop playing the favorite church game, "guess who the Antichrist is" -- instead, we need to focus on spreading the truth of the gospel to all we come into contact with -- letting the truth of God's word counteract the spirit of the antichrist which John told us was alive and well in our world today
-- let us pray
Sunday, August 27, 2006
SERMON: COUNTING THE DAYS
Preached by Gregory W. Lee
20 August 2006
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Daniel 9
-- said last week, because of the tumultous events in the world today -- the war in Iraq -- the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah -- the siege of Gaza -- and a war on terror with religious connotations -- starting series on end times prophesies
-- presenting them from a literal perspective -- I believe that prophecy should be taken literally where possibly and symbolically only where it is clearly presented as symbolic
-- it is o.k. to believe different on these points -- there are many in the body of Christ who do not believe in interpreting these passages in this way -- it doesn't mean we are not brothers and sisters in Christ -- it just means we have a difference in opinion as to what these prophetic passages mean
-- reminder -- belief in a certain interpretation of these passages is not necessary for your salvation -- the only thing that is necessary is belief in the death and resurrection of Jesus -- belief that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and that through Him, you can receive forgiveness for your sins
-- so, I am presenting this teaching as I understand it and as I interpret these passages -- I would encourage you to read these passages for yourself -- to see what God says to you through them -- to see what other commentators have written about these passages -- and to develop your own understanding and theology of end times prophecy
II. Scripture Lesson -- Daniel 9
-- as we begin, let me give you a little of the context of passage and tell you a little of the background of Daniel -- Daniel was taken captive by Nebuchadnezzer when Babylon conquered Jerusalem in 605 B.C. -- he quickly rose to a position of authority in Babylon when he interpreted the dream of Nebuchadnezzer -- through it all, Daniel maintained his integrity and faith in God despite living in a pagan land
-- as this chapter opens, Nebuchadnezzer and the nation of Babylon had been conquered by the Medo-Persian empire -- and now Daniel finds himself serving under Darius, son of Xerxes -- the new ruler of Babylon
-- Daniel is a very old man at this time -- look at verse 1
1. In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom--
2. in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.
3. So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.
-- Daniel had been reading the prophecies given by Jeremiah and had discovered that the time of exile of the Jewish people would last 70 years -- the end of the 70 year exile period was now rapidly approaching, and Daniel turns to God in prayer on behalf of the Jewish people, asking Him to release them from their exile and to allow them to return to Jerusalem -- Daniel was worried about what was going to happen to the Israelites in the future, especially since a new world government had come on the scene in the form of the Medo-Persians
-- turn over to verse 20
20. While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the LORD my God for his holy hill--
21. while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice.
22. He instructed me and said to me, "Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding.
23. As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision:
-- Daniel has been praying out loud to God, pouring out his heart and soul -- confessing his sin and sin of nation -- and making his request for God to return the Israelites back to their nation
-- God's holy hill is Mt. Zion -- this is the location of Jerusalem -- where the city is built and where the temple of God had stood -- this passage concerns the people and the nation of Israel
-- as Daniel is praying, God answers him by sending the angel Gabriel directly to him -- there are only two angels named in scripture -- Gabriel and Michael -- Michael is described as the archangel -- the prince of the people of Israel -- he is the angel who looked over and protected the nation of Israel
-- Gabriel is the messenger of God -- in Luke 1:19 he describes himself as the one who stands in the presence of God -- he is the same one who spoke to Zechariah in the temple, announcing the birth of John the Baptist -- he is the same one who brought the news to Mary that she would bear the Messiah -- and he is the same angel who had appeared to Daniel earlier to explain the meaning of the vision of the ram and goat in Chapter 8
-- Gabriel tells Daniel that his prayers were heard and that he had come to answer Daniel's prayer directly and to explain to him what was going to happen to the nation of Israel in the future because Daniel was considered highly esteemed by God
-- the remainder of the chapter, then, outlines what is going to happen to the nation of Israel, which was the main concern of Daniel in his prayer to God in verses 4-19
verse 24
24. "Seventy `sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.
25. "Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven `sevens,' and sixty-two `sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.
-- o.k., here's where we get prophetic -- Gabriel tells Daniel that "seventy sevens" are decreed for the people of Israel -- some translations say seventy "weeks" -- the Hebrew term used in this passage is "shavua" meaning "a unit of measure" -- so, the term "seven" is really just a unit of measure -- it doesn't have to mean weeks -- it can stand for seven days -- it can stand for seven months -- it could stand for seven years -- or it could stand for any other unit of measure like this
-- in the context of this chapter, though, Daniel is concerned with the prophecy of Jeremiah that stated the nation of Israel would be in exile for seventy years -- so, it is assumed by a lot of scholars that the word "seven" here refers to a time period of seven years
-- so, when Gabriel says that "seventy sevens" are decreed for the nation of Israel, he is saying there are seventy seven-year periods or 490 years decreed for the nation of Israel
-- now, let's talk for a moment about the use of the word "year" in the Bible -- we all know that a year has 365 days -- actually, it has 365.24 days -- that's why we have an extra day in February added every four years -- however, our year is based on a solar calendar -- in other words, a year for us is defined as how long it takes the planet earth to complete one orbit around the sun
-- however, the Israelites did not use a solar calendar -- instead, they measured time using a lunar calendar -- so, a year for the Israelites was not 365.24 days -- instead, a biblical year is 360 days -- and this is important to keep in mind as we go through trying to understand this time line that Gabriel puts forth
-- Gabriel tells Daniel that there are going to be 490 years -- 490 biblical years -- left for the nation of Israel -- these 490 years are presented in this chapter as existing in three separate time periods -- in verse 25, Gabriel talks about two of these time periods that will be established based on events in the life of Israel -- he says there will be "seven sevens" or 49 years -- and then there will be another time period of "sixty-two sevens" or 434 years -- if you add these figures together, you will come up with 483 years -- that means there will be an additional seven year time period known as the "time of Jacob's trouble" that will come later
-- now I want you to imagine that God has a stopwatch -- and He is going to measure out 490 years for the nation of Israel -- God is going to start the stopwatch at a specific time -- Gabriel tells us that the clock will start when the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem is issued
-- remember, Jerusalem has been destroyed -- the walls had been torn down -- the gates demolished -- and the temple burned during the Babylonian conquest -- the city is in ruins at the time Daniel is given this message from Gabriel
-- the decree to rebuild Jerusalem is going to come in the future -- hold your place here in Daniel and turn back to Nehemiah 2 -- the Medo-Persian kings Cyrus and Darius paved the way for this decree when they said it was o.k. for the Jews to go back to Jerusalem and that they could start rebuilding the temple -- but the decree that gave the Jewish people permission to rebuild the city and the walls surrounding the city came in this book -- look at verses 1-8 in this chapter
1. In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before;
2. so the king asked me, "Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart." I was very much afraid,
3. but I said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?"
4. The king said to me, "What is it you want?" Then I prayed to the God of heaven,
5. and I answered the king, "If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it."
6. Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, "How long will your journey take, and when will you get back?" It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time.
7. I also said to him, "If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah?
8. And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king's forest, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?" And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests.
-- this decree by King Artaxerxes occurred in 444 B.C. and most scholars who believe in a literal interpretation of these passages think that this is the starting point of the 490 years
-- turn back over to Daniel 9 and let's look at verse 25 again
25. "Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven `sevens,' and sixty-two `sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.
-- the first time period is "seven sevens" or 49 years -- this is the amount of time it took the Israelites to fully restore the city of Jerusalem -- to rebuild the temple -- to rebuild the houses -- to rebuild the walls and the gates of the city
-- the Book of Malachi -- the last book in the Old Testament -- was written right at the end of this period -- by the time of Malachi, the city of Jerusalem had been fully restored -- this is the end of the first time period
-- the second time period is sixty-two sevens or 434 years and it starts immediately after the restoration of Jerusalem -- Gabriel tells Daniel here that the end of this second time period will be marked by the coming of the Anointed One, meaning the Messiah
-- so, get what Gabriel is saying here -- there will be 483 years from the date when the decree is issued to rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One -- the Messiah comes
-- now, 483 biblical years corresponds to 476 years and 24 days in our Gregorian or solar calendar -- we know that the decree from Artaxerxes to rebuild Jerusalem came around 444 B.C. -- if you were to add 476 years to this date, you will come up with the date that the Anointed One is supposed to come into Jersualem -- 444 BC plus 476 years makes this 32 AD -- the very year when scholars say that Christ rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday accepting the adoration of the crowd as they proclaimed Him as "the One who comes in the name of the Lord"
-- verse 26 seems to verify the fact that Jesus was indeed the Anointed One of God
26. After the sixty-two `sevens,' the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.
-- after the 49 years of the first time period and the additional 434 years of the second time period -- 483 years in all -- Gabriel tells Daniel that the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing -- this is a reference to the rejection of Jesus by the nation of Israel and His death on the cross
III. Has this been fulfilled?
-- but, that still leaves seven years hanging out there -- Gabriel told Daniel that there would be seventy sevens -- 490 years -- for the nation of Israel -- when Jesus died on the cross, only 483 years had passed since the decree to rebuild Jerusalem -- so, what about the final week?
-- some scholars say that the events of that final week were fulfilled immediately after the death of Jesus -- but others say that there is a break in time -- that when the nation of Israel rejected God's Anointed One after 483 years, God stopped the clock for Israel and turned His attention to the Gentiles for a time and that sometime in the future, the clock will restart for the nation of Israel
-- so, which is right?
-- Gabriel tells Daniel in verse 24 that six things will be fulfilled during in the life of Israel before these 490 years have passed
-- first, he says that trangression will be finished -- this refers to the rejection of God by the people of Israel -- the story of the Old Testament is a story of the people of Israel turning away from God, being punished for their sins, and then coming back to God through confession and repentance -- time and time again, the nation of Israel rejected their God -- that is why Daniel is sitting in Babylon as this chapter opens -- the nation of Israel had rejected God and was being punished with 70 years of exile
-- then, when the Anointed One -- the Messiah -- came -- the nation of Israel rejected Him once again -- their transgression continues to this day -- it has not been finished, although we know that in the future the nation will return to God and to their Messiah with all their heart
-- secondly, Gabriel says there will be an end to sin -- now, all we have to do is watch the news today to know that there is still sin in the world -- sin has not been ended by any stretch of the imagination -- this criteria has not been fulfilled
-- third, Gabriel says that there will be atonement for wickedness -- and this has come to pass -- when Jesus died on the cross in our place, He atoned for our wickedness -- for our sins -- so this criteria has been fulfilled
-- fourth, Gabriel said that everlasting righteousness would occur before the end of the 490 years -- this refers to the establishment of God's kingdom on earth -- the time when Jesus will return to set up His kingdom -- this has not come to pass
-- fifth, Gabriel said that vision and prophecy would be sealed up -- this means that all the visions and all the prophecies in the Bible would have been fulfilled -- this has certainly not come to pass because we have not seen the fulfillment of the promise of the second coming of Christ
-- and last, Gabriel said that the most holy would be anointed -- this refers to the anointing of the Holy of Holies in the millenial temple that Ezekiel spoke about in his prophecy -- this has not come to pass yet, either
-- so, have the 490 years decreed for the nation of Israel been completed? -- according to Gabriel's list of things that will be accomplished during this time period, no, it has not been completed
-- so, it appears that there is a gap in time between the end of the 483 years when the Anointed One was cut off and the last seven year period
-- the rest of this chapter in Daniel and the majority of the Book of Revelation concerns this last seven year period, and we'll talk about it next time we get together
IV. Closing-- so, what is the take home message from what we've covered so far in Daniel Chapter 9? -- this is it -- Daniel prophesied in this book the exact time the Anointed One of God would come -- and we know that this Anointed One -- the Messiah -- was Christ Jesus
-- we know that through Him -- and only through Him -- will the six prophesies in verse 24 be completed -- through Him we will see the transgression of the Israel people finished -- through Him we shall see sin come to an end and will see atonement for our sins -- through Him we will receive everlasting righteousness -- and when He comes again, we will see the fulfillment of all prophecy, including the anointing of the most holy
-- there can be no doubt that Jesus was who He claimed to be -- the Holy One of God -- the Messiah -- the Son of Man and the Son of God -- and there can be no doubt that the only way for you to receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life is through receiving Jesus as your Lord and Savior
-- if you have never done that, I would invite you to respond to His invitation this morning
-- let us pray
20 August 2006
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Daniel 9
-- said last week, because of the tumultous events in the world today -- the war in Iraq -- the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah -- the siege of Gaza -- and a war on terror with religious connotations -- starting series on end times prophesies
-- presenting them from a literal perspective -- I believe that prophecy should be taken literally where possibly and symbolically only where it is clearly presented as symbolic
-- it is o.k. to believe different on these points -- there are many in the body of Christ who do not believe in interpreting these passages in this way -- it doesn't mean we are not brothers and sisters in Christ -- it just means we have a difference in opinion as to what these prophetic passages mean
-- reminder -- belief in a certain interpretation of these passages is not necessary for your salvation -- the only thing that is necessary is belief in the death and resurrection of Jesus -- belief that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and that through Him, you can receive forgiveness for your sins
-- so, I am presenting this teaching as I understand it and as I interpret these passages -- I would encourage you to read these passages for yourself -- to see what God says to you through them -- to see what other commentators have written about these passages -- and to develop your own understanding and theology of end times prophecy
II. Scripture Lesson -- Daniel 9
-- as we begin, let me give you a little of the context of passage and tell you a little of the background of Daniel -- Daniel was taken captive by Nebuchadnezzer when Babylon conquered Jerusalem in 605 B.C. -- he quickly rose to a position of authority in Babylon when he interpreted the dream of Nebuchadnezzer -- through it all, Daniel maintained his integrity and faith in God despite living in a pagan land
-- as this chapter opens, Nebuchadnezzer and the nation of Babylon had been conquered by the Medo-Persian empire -- and now Daniel finds himself serving under Darius, son of Xerxes -- the new ruler of Babylon
-- Daniel is a very old man at this time -- look at verse 1
1. In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom--
2. in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.
3. So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.
-- Daniel had been reading the prophecies given by Jeremiah and had discovered that the time of exile of the Jewish people would last 70 years -- the end of the 70 year exile period was now rapidly approaching, and Daniel turns to God in prayer on behalf of the Jewish people, asking Him to release them from their exile and to allow them to return to Jerusalem -- Daniel was worried about what was going to happen to the Israelites in the future, especially since a new world government had come on the scene in the form of the Medo-Persians
-- turn over to verse 20
20. While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the LORD my God for his holy hill--
21. while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice.
22. He instructed me and said to me, "Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding.
23. As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision:
-- Daniel has been praying out loud to God, pouring out his heart and soul -- confessing his sin and sin of nation -- and making his request for God to return the Israelites back to their nation
-- God's holy hill is Mt. Zion -- this is the location of Jerusalem -- where the city is built and where the temple of God had stood -- this passage concerns the people and the nation of Israel
-- as Daniel is praying, God answers him by sending the angel Gabriel directly to him -- there are only two angels named in scripture -- Gabriel and Michael -- Michael is described as the archangel -- the prince of the people of Israel -- he is the angel who looked over and protected the nation of Israel
-- Gabriel is the messenger of God -- in Luke 1:19 he describes himself as the one who stands in the presence of God -- he is the same one who spoke to Zechariah in the temple, announcing the birth of John the Baptist -- he is the same one who brought the news to Mary that she would bear the Messiah -- and he is the same angel who had appeared to Daniel earlier to explain the meaning of the vision of the ram and goat in Chapter 8
-- Gabriel tells Daniel that his prayers were heard and that he had come to answer Daniel's prayer directly and to explain to him what was going to happen to the nation of Israel in the future because Daniel was considered highly esteemed by God
-- the remainder of the chapter, then, outlines what is going to happen to the nation of Israel, which was the main concern of Daniel in his prayer to God in verses 4-19
verse 24
24. "Seventy `sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.
25. "Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven `sevens,' and sixty-two `sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.
-- o.k., here's where we get prophetic -- Gabriel tells Daniel that "seventy sevens" are decreed for the people of Israel -- some translations say seventy "weeks" -- the Hebrew term used in this passage is "shavua" meaning "a unit of measure" -- so, the term "seven" is really just a unit of measure -- it doesn't have to mean weeks -- it can stand for seven days -- it can stand for seven months -- it could stand for seven years -- or it could stand for any other unit of measure like this
-- in the context of this chapter, though, Daniel is concerned with the prophecy of Jeremiah that stated the nation of Israel would be in exile for seventy years -- so, it is assumed by a lot of scholars that the word "seven" here refers to a time period of seven years
-- so, when Gabriel says that "seventy sevens" are decreed for the nation of Israel, he is saying there are seventy seven-year periods or 490 years decreed for the nation of Israel
-- now, let's talk for a moment about the use of the word "year" in the Bible -- we all know that a year has 365 days -- actually, it has 365.24 days -- that's why we have an extra day in February added every four years -- however, our year is based on a solar calendar -- in other words, a year for us is defined as how long it takes the planet earth to complete one orbit around the sun
-- however, the Israelites did not use a solar calendar -- instead, they measured time using a lunar calendar -- so, a year for the Israelites was not 365.24 days -- instead, a biblical year is 360 days -- and this is important to keep in mind as we go through trying to understand this time line that Gabriel puts forth
-- Gabriel tells Daniel that there are going to be 490 years -- 490 biblical years -- left for the nation of Israel -- these 490 years are presented in this chapter as existing in three separate time periods -- in verse 25, Gabriel talks about two of these time periods that will be established based on events in the life of Israel -- he says there will be "seven sevens" or 49 years -- and then there will be another time period of "sixty-two sevens" or 434 years -- if you add these figures together, you will come up with 483 years -- that means there will be an additional seven year time period known as the "time of Jacob's trouble" that will come later
-- now I want you to imagine that God has a stopwatch -- and He is going to measure out 490 years for the nation of Israel -- God is going to start the stopwatch at a specific time -- Gabriel tells us that the clock will start when the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem is issued
-- remember, Jerusalem has been destroyed -- the walls had been torn down -- the gates demolished -- and the temple burned during the Babylonian conquest -- the city is in ruins at the time Daniel is given this message from Gabriel
-- the decree to rebuild Jerusalem is going to come in the future -- hold your place here in Daniel and turn back to Nehemiah 2 -- the Medo-Persian kings Cyrus and Darius paved the way for this decree when they said it was o.k. for the Jews to go back to Jerusalem and that they could start rebuilding the temple -- but the decree that gave the Jewish people permission to rebuild the city and the walls surrounding the city came in this book -- look at verses 1-8 in this chapter
1. In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before;
2. so the king asked me, "Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart." I was very much afraid,
3. but I said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?"
4. The king said to me, "What is it you want?" Then I prayed to the God of heaven,
5. and I answered the king, "If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it."
6. Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, "How long will your journey take, and when will you get back?" It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time.
7. I also said to him, "If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah?
8. And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king's forest, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?" And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests.
-- this decree by King Artaxerxes occurred in 444 B.C. and most scholars who believe in a literal interpretation of these passages think that this is the starting point of the 490 years
-- turn back over to Daniel 9 and let's look at verse 25 again
25. "Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven `sevens,' and sixty-two `sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.
-- the first time period is "seven sevens" or 49 years -- this is the amount of time it took the Israelites to fully restore the city of Jerusalem -- to rebuild the temple -- to rebuild the houses -- to rebuild the walls and the gates of the city
-- the Book of Malachi -- the last book in the Old Testament -- was written right at the end of this period -- by the time of Malachi, the city of Jerusalem had been fully restored -- this is the end of the first time period
-- the second time period is sixty-two sevens or 434 years and it starts immediately after the restoration of Jerusalem -- Gabriel tells Daniel here that the end of this second time period will be marked by the coming of the Anointed One, meaning the Messiah
-- so, get what Gabriel is saying here -- there will be 483 years from the date when the decree is issued to rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One -- the Messiah comes
-- now, 483 biblical years corresponds to 476 years and 24 days in our Gregorian or solar calendar -- we know that the decree from Artaxerxes to rebuild Jerusalem came around 444 B.C. -- if you were to add 476 years to this date, you will come up with the date that the Anointed One is supposed to come into Jersualem -- 444 BC plus 476 years makes this 32 AD -- the very year when scholars say that Christ rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday accepting the adoration of the crowd as they proclaimed Him as "the One who comes in the name of the Lord"
-- verse 26 seems to verify the fact that Jesus was indeed the Anointed One of God
26. After the sixty-two `sevens,' the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.
-- after the 49 years of the first time period and the additional 434 years of the second time period -- 483 years in all -- Gabriel tells Daniel that the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing -- this is a reference to the rejection of Jesus by the nation of Israel and His death on the cross
III. Has this been fulfilled?
-- but, that still leaves seven years hanging out there -- Gabriel told Daniel that there would be seventy sevens -- 490 years -- for the nation of Israel -- when Jesus died on the cross, only 483 years had passed since the decree to rebuild Jerusalem -- so, what about the final week?
-- some scholars say that the events of that final week were fulfilled immediately after the death of Jesus -- but others say that there is a break in time -- that when the nation of Israel rejected God's Anointed One after 483 years, God stopped the clock for Israel and turned His attention to the Gentiles for a time and that sometime in the future, the clock will restart for the nation of Israel
-- so, which is right?
-- Gabriel tells Daniel in verse 24 that six things will be fulfilled during in the life of Israel before these 490 years have passed
-- first, he says that trangression will be finished -- this refers to the rejection of God by the people of Israel -- the story of the Old Testament is a story of the people of Israel turning away from God, being punished for their sins, and then coming back to God through confession and repentance -- time and time again, the nation of Israel rejected their God -- that is why Daniel is sitting in Babylon as this chapter opens -- the nation of Israel had rejected God and was being punished with 70 years of exile
-- then, when the Anointed One -- the Messiah -- came -- the nation of Israel rejected Him once again -- their transgression continues to this day -- it has not been finished, although we know that in the future the nation will return to God and to their Messiah with all their heart
-- secondly, Gabriel says there will be an end to sin -- now, all we have to do is watch the news today to know that there is still sin in the world -- sin has not been ended by any stretch of the imagination -- this criteria has not been fulfilled
-- third, Gabriel says that there will be atonement for wickedness -- and this has come to pass -- when Jesus died on the cross in our place, He atoned for our wickedness -- for our sins -- so this criteria has been fulfilled
-- fourth, Gabriel said that everlasting righteousness would occur before the end of the 490 years -- this refers to the establishment of God's kingdom on earth -- the time when Jesus will return to set up His kingdom -- this has not come to pass
-- fifth, Gabriel said that vision and prophecy would be sealed up -- this means that all the visions and all the prophecies in the Bible would have been fulfilled -- this has certainly not come to pass because we have not seen the fulfillment of the promise of the second coming of Christ
-- and last, Gabriel said that the most holy would be anointed -- this refers to the anointing of the Holy of Holies in the millenial temple that Ezekiel spoke about in his prophecy -- this has not come to pass yet, either
-- so, have the 490 years decreed for the nation of Israel been completed? -- according to Gabriel's list of things that will be accomplished during this time period, no, it has not been completed
-- so, it appears that there is a gap in time between the end of the 483 years when the Anointed One was cut off and the last seven year period
-- the rest of this chapter in Daniel and the majority of the Book of Revelation concerns this last seven year period, and we'll talk about it next time we get together
IV. Closing-- so, what is the take home message from what we've covered so far in Daniel Chapter 9? -- this is it -- Daniel prophesied in this book the exact time the Anointed One of God would come -- and we know that this Anointed One -- the Messiah -- was Christ Jesus
-- we know that through Him -- and only through Him -- will the six prophesies in verse 24 be completed -- through Him we will see the transgression of the Israel people finished -- through Him we shall see sin come to an end and will see atonement for our sins -- through Him we will receive everlasting righteousness -- and when He comes again, we will see the fulfillment of all prophecy, including the anointing of the most holy
-- there can be no doubt that Jesus was who He claimed to be -- the Holy One of God -- the Messiah -- the Son of Man and the Son of God -- and there can be no doubt that the only way for you to receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life is through receiving Jesus as your Lord and Savior
-- if you have never done that, I would invite you to respond to His invitation this morning
-- let us pray
Monday, August 14, 2006
SERMON: KNOWING THE TIMES
Preached by Gregory W. Lee
13 August 2006
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Matthew 24
-- this morning I want to address a topic that has been on all of our hearts for over a month now -- over the past several weeks, I have had several coworkers and friends come up to me and ask me, "What do you think about the situation in Israel?"
-- now, I consider myself well-informed when it comes to news and current events -- I try to stay up on what is going on in the country and the world -- but that is not why these people approached me about Israel
-- they weren't seeking an in-depth analysis of the political situation with Israel and Hezbollah and the Palestinian Liberation Organization -- they didn't want to know my thoughts on Condelezza Rice's diplomatic efforts in the middle east -- they didn't want me to explain the Bush adminstration's stance on Israeli relations
-- no, that is not why they came to me -- you see, even though my friends are not professing Christians, they had heard enough of Bible prophecy to be concerned and worried about the events of the last month -- I doubt that there is a person in America who has not heard of the antichrist, the tribulation, the beast, and the number "666," the mark of the beast -- and when the fighting started in the Middle East -- when they thought of all the natural disasters -- the hurricanes and tsunamis and earthquakes and famines and floods over the past few years -- the thought crossed their minds, "Perhaps it is all true -- perhaps the time is at hand" -- and you could sense the worry and the fear in their hearts as they wanted to know my thoughts on the situation from a Biblical point of view
-- was this the start of the end times -- were we witnessing the start of World War III -- of Armageddon? -- were we about to see the antichrist rise to power? -- and what did all of this mean to them?
-- I was reminded of the words of the men at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell on Peter and he preached in the streets with passion and power -- Acts 2:37 says, "when the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"
-- this is the heart of the matter that brought my friends to me over the past several weeks -- they know that I am a Christian, and so when the fighting in Israel broke out, they came to me and asked in unspoken words, "What shall we do?"
-- perhaps you have asked yourself this question as you have watched the news about Israel -- or perhaps you have had others come to you and ask you your thoughts on the situation -- regardless, I thought it would be wise to spend a few moments this morning answering this question from a Biblical perspective
II. Eschatological Cautions
-- now as we begin our study of eschatology -- the study of end times prophecy -- let me give you a couple of cautions -- first, the passages that deal with the end times are the most divisive passages in the Bible -- there are those who believe that these prophecies are yet to be fulfilled and that we will literally see the coming of an antichrist, a time of great tribulation, and then the return of Christ to set up His millenial kingdom here on earth
-- there are others who think these prophecies were fulfilled in the years immediately following the death and resurrection of Christ and that they don't apply to us today -- and there are others who discount them altogether as symbolic passages that are not prophetic at all
-- here's what I want you to understand -- belief in these eschatological prophecies -- belief in these end time prophecies -- is not a requirement for salvation -- in other words, we can agree or disagree with our brothers and sisters in Christ on these issues, but they are not life and death issues -- there is room in the body of Christ for disagreement and discussion of ancillary issues such as these
-- just because someone does not believe the same as us or does not hold the same interpretation of a passage as us does not mean that they are not Christians -- we can debate the intepretation and theology of these passages, but it really doesn't matter in the eternal scheme of things -- the only thing that matters -- the one thing that unites us as Christians -- is the belief that Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins -- that He rose from the dead three days later -- and that He is coming back again
-- I am going to present this information to you as I understand it -- based on my study of the Bible, I believe in a literal interpretation of these end-time passages -- I believe that we will see the rapture of the church and a time of great tribulation -- I believe that we will see the establishment of a one-world government and a single unified religion -- and I believe that Christ will return at the end of the tribulation to establish His millenial kingdom here on earth
-- now let me give you the second caution -- look with me at Matthew 24:32
32. "Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.
33. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.
34. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.
35. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
36. "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
-- don't let anyone ever try to tell you that Jesus will come back on a certain day or in a certain year -- He tells us in this passage that no one knows the day or the hour -- so, we should not be setting dates or predicting the second coming
-- however, Jesus does tell us here that we will know the times when all these events will take place -- just like we recognize the signs that summer is approaching, we should be able to recognize the signs when the fulfillment of these end-time prophecies is approaching
-- we won't -- and can't -- know the day and hour -- but we should know the times and should be ready for the coming of Christ at any moment -- look at verse 42
42. "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
43. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.
44. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
-- Jesus tells us that our response should be one of expectation -- this does not mean that we should quit living life and start spending all day looking at the clouds for Christ
-- it does mean that we need to live our lives here on earth as He called us to -- serving Him by loving others and sharing with them the good news of salvation through Jesus -- going about our lives -- working and living in this world, but not getting so attached to this world that we miss Christ when He comes
III. Signs of the Times
-- so, what are signs of the times? -- how will we know the season is at hand? -- Jesus Himself tells us in this passage in Matthew 24 that we call the Olivet Discourse -- look back at the start of the passage in verse 1
1. Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings.
2. "Do you see all these things?" he asked. "I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."
3. As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"
4. Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you.
5. For many will come in my name, claiming, `I am the Christ, ' and will deceive many.
6. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
7. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
8. All these are the beginning of birth pains.
-- first, He says that there will be wars and rumors of war -- nations will rise against nations and kingdoms against kingdoms -- and secondly, Jesus tells us that there will be natural disasters -- famines and earthquakes in various places
-- now these events have always occurred throughout the course of human history -- the Bible is a record of this in the life of the Jewish people, and our history books are filled with the stories of this taking place from the dawn of civilization until now
-- but Jesus says that these are the beginning of birth pains, meaning that as the season approaches, that these events -- the wars and the natural disasters -- will occur more and more frequently and will increase in severity -- when we see this happening, we know that we are moving towards the end of the age
-- verse 9
9. "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
10. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,
11. and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.
12. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,
13. but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.
14. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
-- the second sign of the season is increased persecution coupled with increased evangelism -- it's kind of hard for us to see through the lens of 21st century American Christianity, but world-wide persecution of Christians is at an all-time high -- there are more martyrs for Christ -- more people who are being persecuted and killed for their faith -- than at any time in history
-- we are not facing persecution in our country, but in places like China and Indonesia and Africa and the Middle East, Christians are being brutally persecuted for their faith -- they are being cast out of their families -- beaten, raped, and killed -- but, at the same time, the church of Christ is growing in these places as the faith of these martyrs bears witness to the gospel and as hundreds of thousands of missionaries are leaving their homes to share the good news of Christ with those in other lands -- countries like South Korea are literally sending thousands of missionaries out every year to preach and to teach others about Jesus
-- the gospel may not have been preached to the whole world yet, but with the efforts of the missionaries and technological advances that allow us to broadcast messages and video across great distances, we are rapidly approaching the time when everyone will have the opportunity to hear the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ
IV. Closing
-- as I watch the news every night, I cannot help but think that we are rapidly approaching the end of the age -- the signs that Jesus warned us about are everywhere -- we live in an age of ever-increasing warfare -- our own country has been fighting a war on terror for the last five years
-- we are seeing natural disasters on an unprecedented scale -- from tsunamis to earthquakes to the hurricanes of the past couple of years -- it seems like every day the newspapers say that these events are the worst ever recorded -- "hottest July on record" -- "worst flooding in 100 years" -- "largest earthquake ever felt in the region" -- you know what I'm talking about -- you've heard it, too
-- and while we may insulated from the persecution of our brothers and sisters in Christ, with just a little interest on our part, we can learn more about their situations -- organizations like The Voice of the Martyrs and others are spreading the word about the persecution of Christians and requesting assistance through prayers, financial support, and evangelistic materials
-- so, I think we are seeing the signs of the end times all around us -- and the current fighting in Israel is just another of those signs -- how close are we? -- I don't know -- but I think it is safe to say that we are much closer now than we were twenty years ago
-- so, let's get back to the question that we opened with, "What shall we do?"
-- the answer is the same that Peter gave the crowd at Pentecost -- "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins -- and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit"
-- the first thing we must do is receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior -- to confess that we are a sinner and to repent of our sins -- to turn away from our sins and to turn to God -- and to ask Jesus to forgive us and to save us
-- and then, when we do that, we are to go forth in the power of the Holy Spirit and share the good news of salvation with those around us
-- I am planning on spending the next couple of weeks talking about end-times prophecy and summarizing the events of the end of the age as I understand them from this passage in Matthew and from the books of Daniel and Revelation -- whether you believe in a literal interpretation of these passages or not, you should still find it interesting -- but, in the meantime, let me leave you with this thought
-- as Christians, when we see world events that appear to mirror the signs of the end of the age, we should not worry or fret -- we should simply trust in the saving grace and the promises of the Lord Jesus Christ and take heart that He has already told us that these things would take place
-- and we should take these events as a sign for us that the time is short and that we should make the most of this time by telling others about Jesus and pointing them to the cross
-- as I close this morning -- as the last hymn is played -- I would invite you to respond to God's word as you feel led -- if you have never received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then I would invite you to come forward this morning and receive Him into your heart -- if you feel a calling for missions or to rededicate your life to fulfilling the calling of Christ to tell others about Him, I would invite you to come forward as well
-- let us pray
13 August 2006
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Matthew 24
-- this morning I want to address a topic that has been on all of our hearts for over a month now -- over the past several weeks, I have had several coworkers and friends come up to me and ask me, "What do you think about the situation in Israel?"
-- now, I consider myself well-informed when it comes to news and current events -- I try to stay up on what is going on in the country and the world -- but that is not why these people approached me about Israel
-- they weren't seeking an in-depth analysis of the political situation with Israel and Hezbollah and the Palestinian Liberation Organization -- they didn't want to know my thoughts on Condelezza Rice's diplomatic efforts in the middle east -- they didn't want me to explain the Bush adminstration's stance on Israeli relations
-- no, that is not why they came to me -- you see, even though my friends are not professing Christians, they had heard enough of Bible prophecy to be concerned and worried about the events of the last month -- I doubt that there is a person in America who has not heard of the antichrist, the tribulation, the beast, and the number "666," the mark of the beast -- and when the fighting started in the Middle East -- when they thought of all the natural disasters -- the hurricanes and tsunamis and earthquakes and famines and floods over the past few years -- the thought crossed their minds, "Perhaps it is all true -- perhaps the time is at hand" -- and you could sense the worry and the fear in their hearts as they wanted to know my thoughts on the situation from a Biblical point of view
-- was this the start of the end times -- were we witnessing the start of World War III -- of Armageddon? -- were we about to see the antichrist rise to power? -- and what did all of this mean to them?
-- I was reminded of the words of the men at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell on Peter and he preached in the streets with passion and power -- Acts 2:37 says, "when the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"
-- this is the heart of the matter that brought my friends to me over the past several weeks -- they know that I am a Christian, and so when the fighting in Israel broke out, they came to me and asked in unspoken words, "What shall we do?"
-- perhaps you have asked yourself this question as you have watched the news about Israel -- or perhaps you have had others come to you and ask you your thoughts on the situation -- regardless, I thought it would be wise to spend a few moments this morning answering this question from a Biblical perspective
II. Eschatological Cautions
-- now as we begin our study of eschatology -- the study of end times prophecy -- let me give you a couple of cautions -- first, the passages that deal with the end times are the most divisive passages in the Bible -- there are those who believe that these prophecies are yet to be fulfilled and that we will literally see the coming of an antichrist, a time of great tribulation, and then the return of Christ to set up His millenial kingdom here on earth
-- there are others who think these prophecies were fulfilled in the years immediately following the death and resurrection of Christ and that they don't apply to us today -- and there are others who discount them altogether as symbolic passages that are not prophetic at all
-- here's what I want you to understand -- belief in these eschatological prophecies -- belief in these end time prophecies -- is not a requirement for salvation -- in other words, we can agree or disagree with our brothers and sisters in Christ on these issues, but they are not life and death issues -- there is room in the body of Christ for disagreement and discussion of ancillary issues such as these
-- just because someone does not believe the same as us or does not hold the same interpretation of a passage as us does not mean that they are not Christians -- we can debate the intepretation and theology of these passages, but it really doesn't matter in the eternal scheme of things -- the only thing that matters -- the one thing that unites us as Christians -- is the belief that Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins -- that He rose from the dead three days later -- and that He is coming back again
-- I am going to present this information to you as I understand it -- based on my study of the Bible, I believe in a literal interpretation of these end-time passages -- I believe that we will see the rapture of the church and a time of great tribulation -- I believe that we will see the establishment of a one-world government and a single unified religion -- and I believe that Christ will return at the end of the tribulation to establish His millenial kingdom here on earth
-- now let me give you the second caution -- look with me at Matthew 24:32
32. "Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.
33. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.
34. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.
35. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
36. "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
-- don't let anyone ever try to tell you that Jesus will come back on a certain day or in a certain year -- He tells us in this passage that no one knows the day or the hour -- so, we should not be setting dates or predicting the second coming
-- however, Jesus does tell us here that we will know the times when all these events will take place -- just like we recognize the signs that summer is approaching, we should be able to recognize the signs when the fulfillment of these end-time prophecies is approaching
-- we won't -- and can't -- know the day and hour -- but we should know the times and should be ready for the coming of Christ at any moment -- look at verse 42
42. "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
43. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.
44. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
-- Jesus tells us that our response should be one of expectation -- this does not mean that we should quit living life and start spending all day looking at the clouds for Christ
-- it does mean that we need to live our lives here on earth as He called us to -- serving Him by loving others and sharing with them the good news of salvation through Jesus -- going about our lives -- working and living in this world, but not getting so attached to this world that we miss Christ when He comes
III. Signs of the Times
-- so, what are signs of the times? -- how will we know the season is at hand? -- Jesus Himself tells us in this passage in Matthew 24 that we call the Olivet Discourse -- look back at the start of the passage in verse 1
1. Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings.
2. "Do you see all these things?" he asked. "I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."
3. As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"
4. Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you.
5. For many will come in my name, claiming, `I am the Christ, ' and will deceive many.
6. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.
7. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
8. All these are the beginning of birth pains.
-- first, He says that there will be wars and rumors of war -- nations will rise against nations and kingdoms against kingdoms -- and secondly, Jesus tells us that there will be natural disasters -- famines and earthquakes in various places
-- now these events have always occurred throughout the course of human history -- the Bible is a record of this in the life of the Jewish people, and our history books are filled with the stories of this taking place from the dawn of civilization until now
-- but Jesus says that these are the beginning of birth pains, meaning that as the season approaches, that these events -- the wars and the natural disasters -- will occur more and more frequently and will increase in severity -- when we see this happening, we know that we are moving towards the end of the age
-- verse 9
9. "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
10. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,
11. and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.
12. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,
13. but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.
14. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
-- the second sign of the season is increased persecution coupled with increased evangelism -- it's kind of hard for us to see through the lens of 21st century American Christianity, but world-wide persecution of Christians is at an all-time high -- there are more martyrs for Christ -- more people who are being persecuted and killed for their faith -- than at any time in history
-- we are not facing persecution in our country, but in places like China and Indonesia and Africa and the Middle East, Christians are being brutally persecuted for their faith -- they are being cast out of their families -- beaten, raped, and killed -- but, at the same time, the church of Christ is growing in these places as the faith of these martyrs bears witness to the gospel and as hundreds of thousands of missionaries are leaving their homes to share the good news of Christ with those in other lands -- countries like South Korea are literally sending thousands of missionaries out every year to preach and to teach others about Jesus
-- the gospel may not have been preached to the whole world yet, but with the efforts of the missionaries and technological advances that allow us to broadcast messages and video across great distances, we are rapidly approaching the time when everyone will have the opportunity to hear the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ
IV. Closing
-- as I watch the news every night, I cannot help but think that we are rapidly approaching the end of the age -- the signs that Jesus warned us about are everywhere -- we live in an age of ever-increasing warfare -- our own country has been fighting a war on terror for the last five years
-- we are seeing natural disasters on an unprecedented scale -- from tsunamis to earthquakes to the hurricanes of the past couple of years -- it seems like every day the newspapers say that these events are the worst ever recorded -- "hottest July on record" -- "worst flooding in 100 years" -- "largest earthquake ever felt in the region" -- you know what I'm talking about -- you've heard it, too
-- and while we may insulated from the persecution of our brothers and sisters in Christ, with just a little interest on our part, we can learn more about their situations -- organizations like The Voice of the Martyrs and others are spreading the word about the persecution of Christians and requesting assistance through prayers, financial support, and evangelistic materials
-- so, I think we are seeing the signs of the end times all around us -- and the current fighting in Israel is just another of those signs -- how close are we? -- I don't know -- but I think it is safe to say that we are much closer now than we were twenty years ago
-- so, let's get back to the question that we opened with, "What shall we do?"
-- the answer is the same that Peter gave the crowd at Pentecost -- "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins -- and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit"
-- the first thing we must do is receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior -- to confess that we are a sinner and to repent of our sins -- to turn away from our sins and to turn to God -- and to ask Jesus to forgive us and to save us
-- and then, when we do that, we are to go forth in the power of the Holy Spirit and share the good news of salvation with those around us
-- I am planning on spending the next couple of weeks talking about end-times prophecy and summarizing the events of the end of the age as I understand them from this passage in Matthew and from the books of Daniel and Revelation -- whether you believe in a literal interpretation of these passages or not, you should still find it interesting -- but, in the meantime, let me leave you with this thought
-- as Christians, when we see world events that appear to mirror the signs of the end of the age, we should not worry or fret -- we should simply trust in the saving grace and the promises of the Lord Jesus Christ and take heart that He has already told us that these things would take place
-- and we should take these events as a sign for us that the time is short and that we should make the most of this time by telling others about Jesus and pointing them to the cross
-- as I close this morning -- as the last hymn is played -- I would invite you to respond to God's word as you feel led -- if you have never received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then I would invite you to come forward this morning and receive Him into your heart -- if you feel a calling for missions or to rededicate your life to fulfilling the calling of Christ to tell others about Him, I would invite you to come forward as well
-- let us pray
SERMON: THE CHOSEN
Preached by Gregory W. Lee
6 August 2006
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Mark 2
-- if you are like most people, at some time in your life, you have experienced the feeling of not being chosen -- the experience of not being selected for something that you really wanted -- you've experienced that feeling of rejection -- that feeling of not being wanted
-- maybe it was in grade school, when teams were being selected on the playground -- maybe you were the last one picked or maybe you weren't picked at all -- maybe it was when you started dating, and the person you liked didn't ask you out or turned you down when you asked them for a date -- maybe there was something else in your life that you really wanted to be a part of but you just didn't get chosen for it
-- I remember that when I was getting out of grad school, I really felt rejected by the world -- I had pretty good grades coming out of school and quite a bit of experience -- and when I was about a month away from graduation, I started applying for jobs all across the country -- but it seemed like every job I applied for, I got back a rejection notice -- I didn't even get an interview, just a letter back saying, "Thanks, but no thanks"
-- it became a joke around our office -- I actually took a map of the U.S. and glued to a piece of cardboard and started putting a pin in the map for each job I applied for -- I put a red pin on the map on each city where I had applied for a job at -- when I got rejected for a job, I would take the red pin out and put an orange pin in its place -- I applied for over 50 jobs that summer -- and I received rejection notices from all of them but two jobs
-- I still have that map at home -- it's in a box in my closet -- and I think about it from time to time -- I still remember the feeling of looking at that map on the wall, filled with 50 orange pins showing that all those people had decided I was not good enough to work for them -- I still remember the feeling of rejection that I had every time I changed a pin from red to orange -- it's no fun to be rejected -- it's no fun to not be chosen
-- but there's a reason I still have that map at home -- you see, on that map, there is a green pin -- that pin represents a job offer -- it means that someone looked at my resume -- they looked at my grades -- they looked at my experience -- they compared me to all the other people who applied -- and they chose me -- they selected me to work for them
-- that green pin, nestled in a sea of orange, tells me that I have value -- that I have something to offer -- it tells me that I matter
-- no one wants to be rejected -- we all want to be chosen -- we all want to be picked out and selected by someone else -- to be told that we are valuable in their eyes -- that we are someone that they want -- whether it's a job or to be part of a team or to be part of something else -- there's just something special about being chosen -- about being told, "you are so valuable, I want you to be with me"
-- I want to spend some time this morning reflecting on what it means to be chosen
II. Chosen by Jesus
A. Matthew
-- if you would, look with me now in Mark 2:14
14. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
-- in this verse, we see the calling of Levi -- or Matthew -- by Jesus
-- now we all know that Matthew was one of the apostles -- he was chosen by Jesus, but have you ever reflected on this verse -- have you ever thought about what was going on in the story captured in this single verse?
-- here was Matthew, sitting in a tax collector's booth -- he was a Jew, but he had chosen to work for the Romans in a profession that was hated by the Jews -- they considered him a sinner -- a traitor to his own people -- because he made his living extorting the Roman tax from the Jewish people
-- you see, tax collectors weren't paid -- they made their salary off of what extra they could get from the people -- so, if the tax was $100, then the tax collectors might make the people pay $125 -- and they would keep the difference -- the more they could collect from the people, the more they would have for their own pockets
-- so here's Matthew, sitting in his tax collector's booth, being ignored and hated by all those around him -- and Jesus comes along and simply says, "Follow me" and Matthew gets up, and leaves his booth, and starts to follow Jesus
-- we tend to look at the story through the lenses of 2000 years, knowing that Matthew was an apostle, knowing that he was the author of the first gospel -- but have you ever wondered what made Matthew get up and go immediately when Jesus called?
-- let's say that tomorrow you are at work or at a store in Valdosta -- you're living your life -- doing what you're supposed to do -- and someone walks up to you and says, "Follow me" -- would you just get up and follow them like Matthew did? -- probably not -- that's why some scholars suggest that there must have been an existing relationship there -- that Jesus and Matthew must have known each other and that Jesus was calling him to come and follow because he was a friend -- "otherwise," they say, "Matthew would not have left his post at the tax collector's booth"
-- but I don't think that's the case -- do you want to know why Matthew got up and followed Jesus when He called him? -- it's a simple answer -- he was chosen by God
-- when we were at Promise Keepers a couple of weeks ago, they showed a video by Rob Bell -- in this video, he talked about the normal educational process for Jewish boys -- you see, at about the age of six, all Jewish boys were put in school to learn the Torah -- the first five books of the Old Testament -- they would literally memorize it
-- they finished this around age ten, and then most of them became apprentices to learn a trade -- but a few of them showed promise as scholars, so they were invited to learn the rest of the Old Testament -- the teachings of the law and the prophets and the wisdom literature -- they finished this teaching around age 16 or so -- at that point, most of them would start work, but a few who were really special -- the best of the best who showed the ability to be rabbis -- teachers of the Bible -- they would be invited to apply to established rabbis to learn from them -- kind of like we apply to colleges -- and then, if the rabbi found them worthy -- he would invite them to come and sit at his feet and learn from him by saying, "Come, follow me"
-- now, think about Matthew, the tax collector -- despised by his own people -- looked down on by all as a sinner -- and here comes Jesus
-- I'm sure Matthew had heard about Jesus -- everyone had heard about Jesus -- the teachings -- the miracles -- the love and compassion that He had for all
-- and Jesus comes walking by his tax collector's booth -- and stops -- and looks him in the eye -- and says, "Come, follow me"
-- for the first time in a long time -- perhaps the first time ever -- Matthew was chosen -- someone had looked at him and found value in him -- and not only someone -- but Jesus Himself -- the great teacher -- the great rabbi -- the very one that some were whispering was the Messiah -- Jesus had stopped and chosen Matthew and said, "Come, follow me"
-- is it any wonder that Matthew left his booth immediately and followed Jesus?
-- does this perhaps explain the stories of the other disciples -- those of Peter and Andrew and James and John -- who dropped their nets at the waters edge -- leaving everything behind to follow Jesus -- Thomas and Judas and Simon and all the others -- leaving behind wives and girlfriends and families -- leaving behind jobs and responsibilities and obligations -- leaving everything without question
-- why? -- because Jesus chose them -- because He saw value and worth in them when no one else did
B. Us
-- if you would, please turn over to John 15:16
16. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.
-- have you ever read words as sweet as these? -- not only was Matthew and Peter and James and John chose -- but we were chosen by Jesus as well
-- do you know what that means? -- no matter what the world thinks -- no matter what others might think about us or what we do or about what kind of family we come from -- one thing is certain -- Jesus has looked at us -- and He chose us
-- where the world looked at us and found us lacking -- Jesus looked at us and saw us for who we were -- the sons and daughters of the King -- so special that the King sent His Son to die in our place -- so special that the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords would look at us and say, "Come, follow Me -- I choose you"
III. Why were we chosen?
-- but, why were we chosen? -- read this verse again
16. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.
-- "I chose you and appointed you" -- not only did Jesus choose us, but He appointed us
-- now, when someone appoints you, that generally means that you have been chosen for a particular assignment or position -- for example, when the President selects an ambassador for another country, that person is appointed by the President to represent the US in that country
-- the KJV puts a little more emphasis on this -- it uses the word "ordained" in place of "appointed" -- this means that Jesus chose us and set us aside -- He prepared us and gifted us for a special ministry in His name and now He was giving us the authority to go out and perform this task for Him
-- what is this task? -- Jesus tells us that we were appointed -- we were ordained -- to go forth and bear fruit for Him -- this is our mission -- this is our calling -- this is why Jesus chose us -- to go forth and bear fruit in our lives -- spiritual fruit that would last for eternity -- not the temporary fruit that this world values so much
-- in the context of the verse -- if you were to read Jesus' entire message here in this section of John -- it seems that there were two meanings to Jesus' call for us to go forth and bear fruit
-- first, we were chosen and ordained to live lives worthy of the calling He had given -- in other words, we were being ordained and appointed to live our lives as His disciples -- to show the world around us the living presence of the Son through the fruits of the Holy Spirit being made manifest through our words and our actions and our lives
-- we were chosen to be saved and to be made perfect through the power of the Holy Spirit working in us -- seeing the evidence of the fruits of the Spirit more and more clearly in our lives every day -- love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control
-- when Jesus says that He chose us and appointed us to bear fruit for Him, He meant that we were to live our lives worthy of His name -- to grow more and more like Him every day through the power of the Spirit
-- secondly, we were chosen and ordained to bear witness to the gospel of Christ in the world
-- reflecting on the immediate response of Matthew to the call of Christ, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote that "faith can no longer mean sitting still and waiting for something to happen -- the Messiah has come, therefore Matthew must rise and follow in response to His call -- faith becomes faith in an act of obedience"
-- we have been chosen of God -- we have been chosen and appointed by Christ Himself -- but it is not enough to be chosen -- we have to act on the call placed in our life
-- the Bible teaches that everyone is called -- everyone is chosen for salvation -- but few accept the calling and receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior
-- and of those who step into their calling for salvation, even fewer step into their calling -- their appointment -- for ministry
-- Jesus tells us that He expects us to go and bear witness to the gospel with our lives and our words and our actions -- to share our faith with those around us -- our family -- our friends -- even the people in line with you at Walmart
-- and those people that we introduce to Christ -- those people who give their lives to Christ and who accept Him as their Lord and Savior -- these become some of the eternal fruit that we are appointed to bear for Jesus
IV. Closing
-- as I close, I want you to remember one thing -- regardless of what others might think -- regardless of what the world might tell you -- you are special -- you are chosen by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords -- you are a child of the Father -- you have value and worth in His eyes and He gave His own Son to die on the cross in your place -- to give you eternal life with Him
-- Christ chose you -- but you must also choose Christ -- if you have never accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then maybe this morning is the time when you recognize that He is looking at you and is saying, "Come, follow me" -- maybe this morning is the time when you should give your life to Him and accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior
-- maybe you are saved, but you're still sitting still, waiting for something to happen -- know that Jesus has appointed you to bear witness to His name -- to live lives worthy of His calling and to share your faith with those around you -- to lead others to Christ and point them to the cross of salvation
-- whatever it is that God is calling you to do this morning, I would invite you to respond to His word as you feel led -- as the last song is played, the altar will be open -- let us pray
6 August 2006
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Mark 2
-- if you are like most people, at some time in your life, you have experienced the feeling of not being chosen -- the experience of not being selected for something that you really wanted -- you've experienced that feeling of rejection -- that feeling of not being wanted
-- maybe it was in grade school, when teams were being selected on the playground -- maybe you were the last one picked or maybe you weren't picked at all -- maybe it was when you started dating, and the person you liked didn't ask you out or turned you down when you asked them for a date -- maybe there was something else in your life that you really wanted to be a part of but you just didn't get chosen for it
-- I remember that when I was getting out of grad school, I really felt rejected by the world -- I had pretty good grades coming out of school and quite a bit of experience -- and when I was about a month away from graduation, I started applying for jobs all across the country -- but it seemed like every job I applied for, I got back a rejection notice -- I didn't even get an interview, just a letter back saying, "Thanks, but no thanks"
-- it became a joke around our office -- I actually took a map of the U.S. and glued to a piece of cardboard and started putting a pin in the map for each job I applied for -- I put a red pin on the map on each city where I had applied for a job at -- when I got rejected for a job, I would take the red pin out and put an orange pin in its place -- I applied for over 50 jobs that summer -- and I received rejection notices from all of them but two jobs
-- I still have that map at home -- it's in a box in my closet -- and I think about it from time to time -- I still remember the feeling of looking at that map on the wall, filled with 50 orange pins showing that all those people had decided I was not good enough to work for them -- I still remember the feeling of rejection that I had every time I changed a pin from red to orange -- it's no fun to be rejected -- it's no fun to not be chosen
-- but there's a reason I still have that map at home -- you see, on that map, there is a green pin -- that pin represents a job offer -- it means that someone looked at my resume -- they looked at my grades -- they looked at my experience -- they compared me to all the other people who applied -- and they chose me -- they selected me to work for them
-- that green pin, nestled in a sea of orange, tells me that I have value -- that I have something to offer -- it tells me that I matter
-- no one wants to be rejected -- we all want to be chosen -- we all want to be picked out and selected by someone else -- to be told that we are valuable in their eyes -- that we are someone that they want -- whether it's a job or to be part of a team or to be part of something else -- there's just something special about being chosen -- about being told, "you are so valuable, I want you to be with me"
-- I want to spend some time this morning reflecting on what it means to be chosen
II. Chosen by Jesus
A. Matthew
-- if you would, look with me now in Mark 2:14
14. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.
-- in this verse, we see the calling of Levi -- or Matthew -- by Jesus
-- now we all know that Matthew was one of the apostles -- he was chosen by Jesus, but have you ever reflected on this verse -- have you ever thought about what was going on in the story captured in this single verse?
-- here was Matthew, sitting in a tax collector's booth -- he was a Jew, but he had chosen to work for the Romans in a profession that was hated by the Jews -- they considered him a sinner -- a traitor to his own people -- because he made his living extorting the Roman tax from the Jewish people
-- you see, tax collectors weren't paid -- they made their salary off of what extra they could get from the people -- so, if the tax was $100, then the tax collectors might make the people pay $125 -- and they would keep the difference -- the more they could collect from the people, the more they would have for their own pockets
-- so here's Matthew, sitting in his tax collector's booth, being ignored and hated by all those around him -- and Jesus comes along and simply says, "Follow me" and Matthew gets up, and leaves his booth, and starts to follow Jesus
-- we tend to look at the story through the lenses of 2000 years, knowing that Matthew was an apostle, knowing that he was the author of the first gospel -- but have you ever wondered what made Matthew get up and go immediately when Jesus called?
-- let's say that tomorrow you are at work or at a store in Valdosta -- you're living your life -- doing what you're supposed to do -- and someone walks up to you and says, "Follow me" -- would you just get up and follow them like Matthew did? -- probably not -- that's why some scholars suggest that there must have been an existing relationship there -- that Jesus and Matthew must have known each other and that Jesus was calling him to come and follow because he was a friend -- "otherwise," they say, "Matthew would not have left his post at the tax collector's booth"
-- but I don't think that's the case -- do you want to know why Matthew got up and followed Jesus when He called him? -- it's a simple answer -- he was chosen by God
-- when we were at Promise Keepers a couple of weeks ago, they showed a video by Rob Bell -- in this video, he talked about the normal educational process for Jewish boys -- you see, at about the age of six, all Jewish boys were put in school to learn the Torah -- the first five books of the Old Testament -- they would literally memorize it
-- they finished this around age ten, and then most of them became apprentices to learn a trade -- but a few of them showed promise as scholars, so they were invited to learn the rest of the Old Testament -- the teachings of the law and the prophets and the wisdom literature -- they finished this teaching around age 16 or so -- at that point, most of them would start work, but a few who were really special -- the best of the best who showed the ability to be rabbis -- teachers of the Bible -- they would be invited to apply to established rabbis to learn from them -- kind of like we apply to colleges -- and then, if the rabbi found them worthy -- he would invite them to come and sit at his feet and learn from him by saying, "Come, follow me"
-- now, think about Matthew, the tax collector -- despised by his own people -- looked down on by all as a sinner -- and here comes Jesus
-- I'm sure Matthew had heard about Jesus -- everyone had heard about Jesus -- the teachings -- the miracles -- the love and compassion that He had for all
-- and Jesus comes walking by his tax collector's booth -- and stops -- and looks him in the eye -- and says, "Come, follow me"
-- for the first time in a long time -- perhaps the first time ever -- Matthew was chosen -- someone had looked at him and found value in him -- and not only someone -- but Jesus Himself -- the great teacher -- the great rabbi -- the very one that some were whispering was the Messiah -- Jesus had stopped and chosen Matthew and said, "Come, follow me"
-- is it any wonder that Matthew left his booth immediately and followed Jesus?
-- does this perhaps explain the stories of the other disciples -- those of Peter and Andrew and James and John -- who dropped their nets at the waters edge -- leaving everything behind to follow Jesus -- Thomas and Judas and Simon and all the others -- leaving behind wives and girlfriends and families -- leaving behind jobs and responsibilities and obligations -- leaving everything without question
-- why? -- because Jesus chose them -- because He saw value and worth in them when no one else did
B. Us
-- if you would, please turn over to John 15:16
16. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.
-- have you ever read words as sweet as these? -- not only was Matthew and Peter and James and John chose -- but we were chosen by Jesus as well
-- do you know what that means? -- no matter what the world thinks -- no matter what others might think about us or what we do or about what kind of family we come from -- one thing is certain -- Jesus has looked at us -- and He chose us
-- where the world looked at us and found us lacking -- Jesus looked at us and saw us for who we were -- the sons and daughters of the King -- so special that the King sent His Son to die in our place -- so special that the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords would look at us and say, "Come, follow Me -- I choose you"
III. Why were we chosen?
-- but, why were we chosen? -- read this verse again
16. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.
-- "I chose you and appointed you" -- not only did Jesus choose us, but He appointed us
-- now, when someone appoints you, that generally means that you have been chosen for a particular assignment or position -- for example, when the President selects an ambassador for another country, that person is appointed by the President to represent the US in that country
-- the KJV puts a little more emphasis on this -- it uses the word "ordained" in place of "appointed" -- this means that Jesus chose us and set us aside -- He prepared us and gifted us for a special ministry in His name and now He was giving us the authority to go out and perform this task for Him
-- what is this task? -- Jesus tells us that we were appointed -- we were ordained -- to go forth and bear fruit for Him -- this is our mission -- this is our calling -- this is why Jesus chose us -- to go forth and bear fruit in our lives -- spiritual fruit that would last for eternity -- not the temporary fruit that this world values so much
-- in the context of the verse -- if you were to read Jesus' entire message here in this section of John -- it seems that there were two meanings to Jesus' call for us to go forth and bear fruit
-- first, we were chosen and ordained to live lives worthy of the calling He had given -- in other words, we were being ordained and appointed to live our lives as His disciples -- to show the world around us the living presence of the Son through the fruits of the Holy Spirit being made manifest through our words and our actions and our lives
-- we were chosen to be saved and to be made perfect through the power of the Holy Spirit working in us -- seeing the evidence of the fruits of the Spirit more and more clearly in our lives every day -- love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control
-- when Jesus says that He chose us and appointed us to bear fruit for Him, He meant that we were to live our lives worthy of His name -- to grow more and more like Him every day through the power of the Spirit
-- secondly, we were chosen and ordained to bear witness to the gospel of Christ in the world
-- reflecting on the immediate response of Matthew to the call of Christ, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote that "faith can no longer mean sitting still and waiting for something to happen -- the Messiah has come, therefore Matthew must rise and follow in response to His call -- faith becomes faith in an act of obedience"
-- we have been chosen of God -- we have been chosen and appointed by Christ Himself -- but it is not enough to be chosen -- we have to act on the call placed in our life
-- the Bible teaches that everyone is called -- everyone is chosen for salvation -- but few accept the calling and receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior
-- and of those who step into their calling for salvation, even fewer step into their calling -- their appointment -- for ministry
-- Jesus tells us that He expects us to go and bear witness to the gospel with our lives and our words and our actions -- to share our faith with those around us -- our family -- our friends -- even the people in line with you at Walmart
-- and those people that we introduce to Christ -- those people who give their lives to Christ and who accept Him as their Lord and Savior -- these become some of the eternal fruit that we are appointed to bear for Jesus
IV. Closing
-- as I close, I want you to remember one thing -- regardless of what others might think -- regardless of what the world might tell you -- you are special -- you are chosen by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords -- you are a child of the Father -- you have value and worth in His eyes and He gave His own Son to die on the cross in your place -- to give you eternal life with Him
-- Christ chose you -- but you must also choose Christ -- if you have never accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then maybe this morning is the time when you recognize that He is looking at you and is saying, "Come, follow me" -- maybe this morning is the time when you should give your life to Him and accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior
-- maybe you are saved, but you're still sitting still, waiting for something to happen -- know that Jesus has appointed you to bear witness to His name -- to live lives worthy of His calling and to share your faith with those around you -- to lead others to Christ and point them to the cross of salvation
-- whatever it is that God is calling you to do this morning, I would invite you to respond to His word as you feel led -- as the last song is played, the altar will be open -- let us pray
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